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  • Writer's pictureLaura Mikulski
    • Jan 27, 2020
    • 3 min read

Addressing Issues with Appointments to Boards & Commissions in Ferndale

Since many of you reached out about appointments to boards & commissions, I'd like to reprint my written thoughts that I read during Call to Council tonight:


I'd like to read from an excerpt from an email submitted to the city by Ferndale resident & Commission member Augusto โ€œMikeโ€ Flores:

๐‘‡๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘”๐‘–๐‘›, ๐ผ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘™๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘š๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘Ž ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘“๐‘™๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘๐‘’๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘‘. ๐ผ๐‘› ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘ก, ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ข๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘–๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ฃ๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘–๐‘š๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘š๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘  ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘˜๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐ถ๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘™ ๐‘†๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘๐‘’ ๐ต๐‘œ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐ท๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘› ๐ท๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘๐‘š๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก ๐ด๐‘ข๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ ๐ต๐‘œ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘.

๐‘‡๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ข๐‘’, ๐ผ ๐‘Ž๐‘š ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘˜ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘๐‘œ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘š๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ . ๐ผ ๐‘Ž๐‘š ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘“๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘š ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐ท๐‘’๐‘๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ 6, 2019 ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐ฝ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ข๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ 26, 2020 ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’ โ€œ๐‘›๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘ โ€ ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐ถ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐น๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘’ ๐ต๐‘œ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘๐‘  & ๐ถ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘š๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘  ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘’.

๐ธ๐‘Ž๐‘โ„Ž ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘™๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘”๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘š๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘š๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘  ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ ๐‘”๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘š๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก. ๐ธ๐‘Ž๐‘โ„Ž ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘š๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘š๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘  ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘š๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ. ๐ด๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘โ„Ž ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘๐‘™๐‘–๐‘๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘š๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘š๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘œ: ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘๐‘ฆ, ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘š๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘’๐‘š๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก, ๐‘’๐‘“๐‘“๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘š๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘–๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›, ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ฆ๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘š/๐‘๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ.

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I want to commend Mike for urging us to accountability, and I want to share a quote from a mentor of mine, Dr. Freda Lewis-Hall, who recently transitioned from her role as Chief Medical Officer at Pfizer:


๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜.


During my campaign this past year, it was clear that the city was facing serious trust issues. I felt it too. My own experience applying to boards and commissions within the city was sub-par, and the lack of communication and transparency in the process left me feeling voiceless and powerless to be involved in more meaningful & impactful ways. I certainly didnโ€™t feel the value of inclusiveness that we as a city support.


As such, one of the first things I did after being elected was reach out to our City Manager and City Clerk for a current copy of all boards and commissions and their current members so that I could get a better feel for opportunities for others to engage.


I want to thank Lena at the DDA for taking time to talk to me Friday, to review the process by which she receives & reviews applications, and for going above and beyond to investigating and determining we were in jeopardy of falling below the limit of members needed on the DDA board. I want to thank Mayor Piana for taking time to field my concerns, and for providing feedback. I also want to thank Sarah Brown and Dennis Whittie for taking time to talk, to listen to my concerns about the process, and for being so gracious about my stance.


We have to do better. We know that. Our City Manager has identified information gaps, processes rife for improvement, and action items to correct them. I personally think, for the sake of simplicity, tabling the civil service board appointment tonight allows us to communicate the vacancy on the city website, through multiple communication channels, and ultimately provide at least 2 weeks to allow other interested parties to apply. Again, to be clear, this is not about the people- itโ€™s about the process and perception.


rust is earned, and with some tweaks to improve transparency Iโ€™m confident weโ€™ll earn it again.

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